Commercial Regulations of Islam with Special Reference to the Prophetic Traditions

Abstract

Pre-Islamic economic practices such as gharar, munabadhah, bay‘ al-hasah, muhaqalah, muzabanah, mulamasah, habal al-habalah, mu‘awamah, among others, were causes of disputes and feuds among families, clans, and tribes. Islam prohibited those and many other economic transactions, and regulated commercial activities, giving birth to the early economic law in Islam. Undoubtedly, Islamic economic law tackled two major problems coming from the jahiliyyah period, which were still in practice at the beginning of Islam: one to avoid tribal feuds and the other to protect the weaker participant in any commercial transaction. This essay analyses these Islamic commercial regulations as contained both in the Qur’an and the sunnah. In order to acquire a more general view of some social activities at the time of Prophet Muhammad, this paper also deals with Prophet Muhammad’s recommendations for all travellers, whether or not they moved from one place to another in search of economic transactions.